The
Snuffbox

As often happens in this
world, there was once a young man who spent all his time in traveling.
One day, as he was walking along, he picked up a snuffbox. He opened
it, and the snuffbox said to him in the Spanish language: "What
do you want?" He was very much frightened, but, luckily, instead
of throwing the box away he only shut it tight and put it in his pocket.
Then he went on, away, away, away, and as he went he said to himself,
"if it says to me again, 'What do you want?' I shall know better
what to say this time." So he took out the snuffbox and opened
it, and again it asked: "What do you want?" "My hat
full of gold," answered the youth, and immediately it was full.

Our young man was enchanted. Henceforth he should never be in need
of anything. So on he traveled, away, away, away, through thick forests,
till at last he came to a beautiful castle. In the castle there lived
a king. The young man walked round and round the castle, not caring
who saw him, till the king noticed him and asked what he was doing
there. "I was just looking at your castle." "You would
like to have one like it, wouldn't you?" The young man did not
reply, but when it grew dark he took out his snuffbox and opened the
lid." What do you want?" "Build me a castle with laths
of gold and tiles of diamond and the furniture all of silver and gold."
He had scarcely finished speaking when there stood in front of him,
exactly opposite the king's palace, a castle built precisely as he
had ordered. When the king awoke he was struck dumb at the sight of
the magnificent house shining in the rays of the sun. The servants
could not do their work for stopping to stare at it. Then the king
dressed himself and went to see the young man. And he told him plainly
that he was a very powerful prince, and that he hoped that they might
all live together in one house or the other, and that the king would
give him his daughter to wife. So it all turned out just as the king
wished. The young man married the princess and they lived happily
in the palace of gold.

But the king's wife was jealous both of the young man and of her
own daughter. The princess had told her mother about the snuffbox,
which gave them everything they wanted, and the queen bribed a servant
to steal the snuffbox. They noticed carefully where it was put away
every night, and one evening, when the whole world was asleep, the
woman stole it and brought it to her old mistress. Oh, how happy the
queen was! She opened the lid and the snuffbox said to her: "What
do you want?" And she answered at once: "I want you to take
me and my husband and my servants and this beautiful house and set
us down on the other side of the Red Sea, but my daughter and her
husband are to stay behind."

When the young couple woke up they found themselves back in the old
castle, without their snuffbox. They hunted for it high and low, but
quite vainly. The young man felt that no time was to be lost, and
he mounted his horse and filled his pockets with as much gold as he
could carry. On he went, away, away, away, but he sought the snuffbox
in vain all up and down the neighboring countries, and very soon he
came to the end of all his money. But still he went on, as fast as
the strength of his horse would let him, begging his way.

Some one told him that he ought to consult the moon, for the moon
traveled far and might be able to tell him something. So he went away,
away, away, and ended, somehow or other, by reaching the land of the
moon. There he found a little old woman who said to him: "What
are you doing here? My son eats all living things he sees, and if
you are wise you will go away without coming any farther." But
the young man told her all his sad tale, and how he possessed a wonderful
snuffbox, and how it had been stolen from him, and how he had nothing
left now that he was parted from his wife and was in need of everything.
And he said that perhaps her son, who traveled so far, might have
seen a palace with laths of gold and tiles of diamond and furnished
all in silver and gold. As he spoke these last words the moon came
in and said he smelled mortal flesh and blood. But his mother told
him that it was an unhappy man who had lost everything and had come
all this way to consult him, and bade the young man not to be afraid,
but to come forward and show himself. So he went boldly up to the
moon, and asked if by any accident he had seen a palace with the laths
of gold and the tiles of diamond and all the furniture of silver and
gold. Once this house belonged to him, but now it was stolen. And
the moon said no, but that the sun traveled farther than he did, and
that the young man had better go and ask him.

So the young man departed and went away, away, away, as well as his
horse would take him, begging his living as he rode along, and somehow
or other at last he got to the land of the sun. There he found a little
old woman, who asked him: "What are you doing here? Go away.
Have you not heard that my son feeds upon Christians?" But he
said no and that he would not go, for he was so miserable that it
was all one to him whether he died or not; that he had lost everything,
and especially a splendid palace like none other in the whole world,
for it had laths of gold and tiles of diamond and all the furniture
was of silver and gold; and that he had sought it far and long, and
in all the earth there was no man more unhappy. So the old woman's
heart melted and she agreed to hide him.

When the sun arrived he declared that he smelled Christian flesh
and he meant to have it for his dinner. But his mother told him such
a pitiful story of the miserable wretch who had lost everything and
had come from far to ask his help that at last he promised to see
him.

So the young man came out from his hiding-place and begged the sun
to tell him if in the course of his travels he had not seen somewhere
a palace that had not its like in the whole world, for its laths were
of gold and its tiles of diamond and all the furniture in silver and
gold.

And the sun said no, but that perhaps the wind had seen it, for he
entered everywhere and saw things that no one else ever saw, and if
anyone knew where it was it was certainly the wind.

Then the poor young man again set forth as well as his horse could
take him, begging his living as he went, and somehow or other he ended
by reaching the home of the wind. He found there a little old woman
busily occupied in filling great barrels with water. She asked him
what had put it into his head to come there, for her son ate everything
he saw, and that he would shortly arrive quite mad, and that the young
man had better look out. But he answered that he was so unhappy that
he had ceased to mind anything, even being eaten, and then he told
her that he had been robbed of a palace that had not its equal in
all the world, and of all that was in it, and that he had even left
his wife and was wandering over the world until he found it. And that
it was the sun who had sent him to consult the wind. So she hid him
under the staircase, and soon they heard the south wind arrive, shaking
the house to its foundations. Thirsty as he was, he did not wait to
drink, but he told his mother that he smelled the blood of a Christian
man, and that she had better bring him out at once and make him ready
to be eaten. But she bade her son eat and drink what was before him,
and said that the poor young man was much to be pitied, and that the
sun had granted him his life in order that he might consult the Wind.
Then she brought out the young man, who explained how he was seeking
for his palace, and that no man had been able to tell him where it
was, so he had come to the Wind. And he added that he had been shamefully
robbed, and that the laths were of gold and the tiles of diamond,
and all the furniture in silver and gold, and he inquired if the Wind
had not seen such a palace during his wanderings.

And the Wind said yes, and that all that day he had been blowing
backward and forward over it without being able to move one single
tile. "Oh, do tell me where it is," cried the young man."
"It is a long way off," replied the Wind, "on the other
side of the Red Sea." But our traveler was not discouraged-he
had already journeyed too far.

So he set forth at once, and somehow or other he managed to reach
that distant land. And he inquired if any one wanted a gardener. He
was told that the head gardener at the castle had just left, and perhaps
he might have a chance of getting the place. The young man lost no
time, but walked up to the castle and asked if they were in want of
a gardener; and how happy he was when they agreed to take him! Now
he passed most of his day in gossiping with the servants about the
wealth of their masters and the wonderful things in the house. He
made friends with one of the maids, who told him the history of the
snuffbox, and he coaxed her to let him see it. One evening she managed
to get hold of it, and the young man watched carefully where she hid
it away in a secret place in the bedchamber of her mistress.

The following night, when everyone was fast asleep, he crept in and
took the snuffbox. Think of his joy as he opened the lid! When it
asked him, as of yore, "What do you want?" he replied: "What
do I want? What do I want? Why, I want to go with my palace to the
old place, and for the king and the queen and all their servants to
be drowned in the Red Sea."

He had hardly finished speaking when he found himself back again
with his wife, while all the other inhabitants of the palace were
lying at the bottom of the Red Sea.